The Game
by Nokito-chan
Summary: Sometimes Tenten wished she was an Uchiha, in possession of a katon powerful enough to incinerate her torment … to wipe it from the face of the earth as if it had never existed. Sake allowed him to dream but dreams came slowly to Sasuke, and ended far too quickly. In a seedy bar they attempt to forget only to find that it's impossible to drown your sorrows alone. AU-ish.
1. Chapter 1

_**a/n: So. I really shouldn't be doing this because I have Heaven to finish, and Precious Things. And I promised myself that the next NejiTen I have in the pipeline would not be published until I'd at least finished PT and written most of it to boot but … I couldn't help myself. This story is an amalgamation of an idea I had recently and another one I had years ago. It's been annoying me ceaselessly so I thought we'd see where it takes us, yeah? I will leave it up to the readers to decide if I should continue this story or if I should stick to the projects I've already got so please let me know if you want me to continue. Since I have so much on my plate updates will be sporadic (the other fics taking precedence) so much as I hate to say it, this will not be continued unless there's interest in it. I think it can stand as a oneshot if necessary. Finally, please note that this is somewhat AU-ish in the sense that some events in the canon timeline did not take place or they took place but the outcomes were different. If there's any confusion about anything let me know!**_

_**Warnings: This story is rated M but I will stick within the parameters the site allows. That being said bear the rating in mind and expect anything.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**_

* * *

_**The Game**_

* * *

It still hurt. Even after all this time. It shouldn't have been this painful – not anymore. Time should have done its job and healed the wounds; the corrosive acid of resentment and anguish should long since have faded. Only real life didn't seem to work that way. Or maybe it was only that _Tenten _didn't work that way; maybe she wasn't put together the same as other people. She often wondered about it … the trite platitude about time healing all wounds certainly seemed to work for all other residents of Konoha. Through the years she'd watched her friends recover from many emotional scars shinobi life inflicted on them: the loss of a trusted friend to enemy kunai, the failed relationships, splintered friendships, broken promises and shattered dreams … and they all seemed to eventually pick themselves up off the ground. They dusted their battered hearts and returned to the fray.

Maybe time had forgotten to heal her wounds…

The imposing gates loomed ahead of her and, somehow, the delicately intricate steelwork conveyed a sense of strength; of nobility. The Hyuuga compound lay beyond the gates; its beautifully crafted gardens lush and verdant even in the scorching heat of a Konoha summer. The buildings rose from perfect foundations, nestled between sakura trees, as pristine as the white robes the inhabitants habitually wore. Undeniably, undoubtedly, the Hyuuga compound was a beautiful, serene place.

She hated coming here; hated the stupid gates, the stupid trees, the gardens, the fountains … every last goddamn _pebble_. But most of all she hated the little house that Neji called home. She hated every square inch of its white walls. She wished that the sturdy foundations would crumble, that the roof would cave in and shatter the elegant rooms it sheltered. She wished she was an Uchiha, in possession of a katon powerful enough to incinerate it … to wipe it from the face of the earth as if it had never existed.

Maybe then she would have some measure of peace. Maybe then she wouldn't be plagued by midnight hallucinations. Maybe then she would be able to go one night without torturing herself with images of the domesticity the pretty little house no doubt harboured.

For the millionth time since leaving the Hokage's office Tenten cursed her teammates soundly. It was rare that Gai and Lee could not be found - they were hard to miss. Still, she had been the first member of Team Gai that the ANBU messenger had tracked down and now it fell to her to gather the rest of her team and inform them of the mission they had just been assigned. Tsunade-sama hadn't the time to spare for another briefing once the rest of the team had been tracked down, and since debriefing the other three now essentially formed part of _her _specific orders Tenten just wasn't comfortable with delegating informing Neji to Gai or Lee.

She was many things; she freely acknowledged that she wasn't necessarily the most compassionate kunoichi of her generation. She didn't wear her heart on her sleeve like Sakura, didn't rush to assist the way Hinata did. She wasn't strictly kind: she didn't have the urge to protect and uplift the way Ino did; couldn't imagine herself reaching out to another person in need. She would not appreciate another intruding on her private anguish so she did not interfere with theirs. She had spent far too many years watching Neji grind Lee into the dust without feeling the slightest bit of remorse for her to pretend at possessing any of the girlish sensibilities most of her peers still displayed from time to time. She was a complete failure as the traditional picture of the fairer sex; but as a _kunoichi_ … Tenten defied anyone to criticize her professional conduct. She hadn't flinched at her first kill; hadn't allowed the less savoury aspects of her chosen career path to negatively impact her naturally friendly and ebullient personality. When she had been younger Gai-sensei had often remarked on this aspect: her almost instinctive ability to compartmentalize. The other girls often urged her to pursue something other than training in her free time. Ino continually wished to take her shopping, Sakura wanted her to appreciate things like art and literature and Hinata would – in her own hesitant way – insist that she spend some time in peaceful, beautiful surroundings to commune with nature.

Though she knew they meant well it frustrated Tenten to no end that they seemed to be so completely unable to understand that she just wasn't that forgiving – that _nice_. But if it made her friends happy to imagine that she would one day lose the serrated edges she'd gained in the last few years; that time would dull the razor-sharp spikes she fairly bristled with these days, then she didn't see the harm in letting them keep their illusions intact.

The sun's rays shifted slightly, molten stripes of gold falling across the walls in front of her and Tenten shook her head to dislodge the dark thoughts. Despite the devil that dwelled within she knew that she was fundamentally incapable of hurting someone or something that had no chance of fighting back. She couldn't attack innocent, defenceless civilians … even if the particular civilian happened to be the most prissy, stuck-up Hyuuga bitch imaginable.

Her shoulders squared almost subconsciously as Tenten readied herself for the veiled confrontation that was sure to come. Another deep breath and she finally left her place in the hidden shadows of a building across the street and approached the gates. She passed through with no problem even though it had been many months since she had come this way; the guards remembered her. There were few enough who were allowed into the Hyuuga sanctum without reserve that they wouldn't forget her in a hurry, but Tenten still couldn't quite keep the smug smirk from pulling at her lips.

No doubt that bothered Neji's pretty, little wife to no end – that Tenten had enough standing to be considered friend to the clan; allowed entrance with no questions asked. It was petty and it was mean-spirited but she couldn't help the swift stabs of bitter pleasure whenever Hinata's gaze passed coldly (as coldly as Hinata was capable of in any case) over her cousin-in-law. Hyuuga Ami was not popular among her husband's peers. Sometimes when Tenten was at her most relaxed she could almost feel pity for the girl who had, after all, done nothing wrong. It simply came down to the fact that their generation of graduates had always been closer than had ever been the norm. No one wanted to choose between Neji and Tenten – no one really had any idea of what had happened between them – but inadvertently they chose regardless. It manifested in small ways: how Ami could never really establish a friendship with any of Neji's friends; how she never quite seemed to fit in. Oh, Tenten knew well enough that the atmosphere eased if she wasn't at a particular friendly gathering; knew that everyone found it easier, and that on those occasions Ami would even manage to enjoy herself.

She knew that they all found her bitchiness bewildering – but what none of them understood was that Tenten could really care less about Hyuuga Ami. She went to those gatherings to torment _him_, to try and cause him even a fraction of the pain she dealt with daily. It was a sick, vicious cycle … she would flirt with whomever was available – glorying in the fact that Neji's eyes grew steadily darker, his grip on his sake steadily increasing in pressure, until he was openly glaring. Then she would leave, more often than not making it seem as if she was leaving with whomever she'd managed to chat up. Of course she never really left with them, but those were the only nights she fell asleep easily … after she had proved, in some entirely inconclusive and insubstantial manner, that he was indefinably still _hers_.

Inevitably though, dawn broke through the pretty dream and harsh reality became illuminated again. He wasn't hers … he would never be. In those early morning hours the remorse came, in waves so swift and silent that Tenten couldn't bear it. She'd immediately resolve to approach Ami and apologize for the humiliation she'd had to go through because of the stupid games Tenten and Neji played. But she could never quite bring herself to complete the promises she made to her conscience in the early hours of sanity. In some way, if she did, if she befriended the Hyuuga girl … she would lose him. It would be like admitting defeat, giving up and that was the one thing that Tenten never did. She was not part of Team Gai for nothing.

That Ami hated her was obvious though the other girl was always careful to treat Tenten with courtesy – on the surface, at least. Tenten could not really bring herself to blame the girl for hating her; it had always been a possibility at best, an inevitability at worst. Though Tenten was never ever anything but saccharinely sweet to her teammate's wife they both knew that beneath the polite layers of civility was only pretense. They did not like each other and never would.

The walk through the compound was uneventful; at this time of day few were up and outside and Tenten was spared having to make small talk as she strode purposefully to her destination. She kept her gaze strictly on the path in front of her, on the perfectly laid stones that formed it, but despite her best efforts the past caught up with her and her stride faltered. She tried to resist, so hard, but of her own accord her gaze lifted as she passed the main house. From this angle she could just barely see the towering branches of the tallest tree at the back of the house but it was enough…

_Her hands bit into the bark; her grip on the tree the only thing that held her upright as her nails dug deeply into the rough surface. She could feel the nails tearing, the skin breaking, as she pressed closely against the tree, trying to disappear into the shadows it provided but she barely registered the blood that pooled relentlessly to finally drip out from beneath white knuckles. Her knees trembled, threatened to give out from under her, when Neji suddenly glanced up. To everyone present he wouldn't have appeared to move much, but she knew him and, to her, the movement was sharp; clearly defined. His eyes shifted restlessly; pale, pearlescent orbs scanning the edges of the gathering. _

_He would see her; of course he would. But Tenten found that she really didn't care. Recklessly, she wanted him to see the pain he'd caused … no thought of pride, or of saving it, ever entered her head as her hazel-brown eyes locked unwaveringly on the man she loved. Where Hyuuga Neji was concerned she had no pride._

_A thousand dull blades sliced at her from head to toe; the pain was nearly physically crippling. She watched, silently from the shadows, as Neji's eyes finally reached her vantage point. He didn't have the Byakugan activated but she knew the almost preternatural ability of that gaze; knew in her bones that he'd seen her even if he made no movement or gesture to indicate that it was so. She watched in masochistic pleasure-pain as the small lines appeared between his brows; an imperceptible frown, but how often had she reached out to smooth those lines away with her fingertips; laughing as he caught her fingers before she could complete the motion, delight shivering down her spine when his longer fingers tangled briefly with hers before he'd withdraw?_

_Neji's attention was again focused on the small, dark-haired girl who stood next to him; clad in pristine white. Absently Tenten had to admit that the girl made a beautiful bride. Her blue-black hair gleamed against the heavy white silk, her eyes seemingly magnified by the glaring contrast of black and white. Her Hyuuga eyes. And that fact, that simple genetic trait, was what had made all the difference in the end…_

_Finally Tenten squeezed her eyelids tightly shut. The priest had reached the vows; the portion of this entire charade that she'd dreaded the most. Her thoughts whirled but her hearing seemed somehow amplified. Some belated sense of self-preservation welled up in her but she'd come this far … had promised herself that it would end today. She would allow herself this one opportunity to wallow in self-pity and rail against the unfairness of it all. She would see it through to the end; take every stab of pain with kunoichi aplomb, and then she would be done with Hyuuga Neji._

_So, she pushed the urge to run away and forced herself to listen to the deep timbre of Neji's voice as he promised everlasting devotion to someone who was not her and the final pieces of her shattered heart came loose from their framework. They splintered to shiny shards, tiny teardrops, falling almost silently to the depths of her soul where she promptly buried them. _

_After all, it was better to have no heart at all. Better to not be able to feel. She didn't notice the silvery track a single tear traced down the paleness of her cheek; she was far too focused on the memories…_

_Suddenly it was all just incongruously funny. She couldn't help but wonder what everyone would have said if she'd interrupted the ceremony as the priest invited any objections to be aired. She could just imagine it … strolling out from her spot in the shadows, fixing her gaze unflinchingly on the cold-hearted bastard …_

"_I object on the grounds that he's incapable of fidelity."_

_She imagined feigning surprise as she faced the startled Hyuuga bride…_

"_Did he forget to mention that while you were putting on your pretty dress and dreaming beautiful dreams about the future he was fucking me?"_

_Her lips moved involuntarily, caressing the words she imagined saying, but knew that she would never utter them aloud. _

_No matter what it had been to Neji – a casual one-time thing, a last grasp at freedom … it had meant more to her than that._

_So she stayed silent, forced her eyes open and made herself watch as the ceremony was concluded with the traditional kiss. She was dry-eyed at the end of it, outwardly composed, even though she could still feel the ghost of his touch on her skin, his movements inside of her, his lips against hers…_

Her knock was precise; staccato raps of knuckles against wood. No matter that this was Ami's domain, she would not let the other girl intimidate her. It wasn't as if she had come of her own accord. She had no desire to ever set foot in this place again, after the wedding, and Tenten mentally cursed Tsunade roundly; feeling no guilt whatsoever – it was only in her own mind after all. The only place she could ever express her true emotions, her true thoughts.

In the aftermath of the wedding she'd retreated, begged a leave of absence, and by the time Neji's honeymoon had been over she'd been herself again. A harder, more brittle version of herself, but Tenten chalked that up to inevitability: wasn't that what growing up really meant? Losing all innocence and trust in people? It made her a stronger kunoichi, of that she was certain … these days she was by far the most ruthless member of Team Gai.

The team had continued as always, if Gai and Lee noticed that she never addressed Neji directly unless it was mission related, if they noticed his persistent attempts to draw her away, to try to talk to her … they didn't mention it. Privately Tenten felt that they were right to simply ignore the frosty, professional silence that coated any interaction between her and Neji. It was better that way. Eventually even Neji had learned; he left her alone these days, didn't try to talk to her, didn't even look at her unless they were forced to fight side by side or if a mission required him to give orders.

It hurt. It shouldn't have. It was what she wanted, after all. But, perversely, she wanted him to continue to _try_. It was ridiculous, she knew him better than that: knew that even if she had no pride where he was concerned he had enough of that commodity to make up for both of them. He'd simply decided that if she didn't want to speak to him about anything not work-related, if she wanted to pretend they were no more than acquaintances accidentally on the same team, then he would respect her wishes. Sometimes she hated that they were so alike – Neji didn't like anyone probing into his personal issues any more than she did, therefore he backed off as soon as it became apparent that she considered this a very personal issue, indeed.

Tiredly, Tenten sighed, as she waited for someone to answer the door. Truth be told, she didn't even really know what she wanted anymore. She reacted; allowed the hurt, the rage, to dictate her actions. It was unfair to blame Neji – he hadn't had a choice in the marriage any more than she, but somehow … she wanted him to have tried harder. Deep down inside she couldn't still the insidious, serpentine voice hissing poisonously that, if he'd truly loved her, he would have done whatever was necessary to be with her. Rationally she knew that life wasn't that easy, wasn't that compartmentalized; intellectually she understood that she'd never declared herself either – and maybe that was the worst part: the guilt and the self-loathing.

Maybe if _she _had tried harder …

Neji was unhappy, that much was apparent – to her at least. His eyes were shadowed in a way they hadn't been since his genin days. He was reluctant to return home after training, he jumped at every chance for a long-term mission. He was working himself to death and, stupid as it was, for that she blamed Ami. Didn't the silly girl realize how lucky she was? Didn't she realize that men like Neji were few and far between – why wasn't she trying her hardest to make him as happy as possible, even if they hadn't been in love? She could have been in an arranged marriage with someone a lot worse, after all...

For a moment, Tenten became lost in an entirely sadistic daydream in which Ami found herself married to the worst kind of man Tenten could conjure up…

"Good morning, Tenten-san. How may I help you?"

The way Ami said it … she might as well have said _whore _instead of Tenten's name. But Tenten forced herself to smile, forced her eyes to stare blankly at the Hyuuga woman who stood in the doorframe, possessively shielding the interior of her home from Tenten's gaze.

"Good morning, Ami-san. I have been sent by the Hokage to summon your husband for a mission," Tenten returned sweetly, suppressing the delight at the crestfallen expression on the other woman's face.'

"Oh, I-I … of course," Ami sighed, but made no move to turn or call for Neji.

Tenten arched an eyebrow, "That is not a problem, is it, Ami-san?"

"We had plans … but nothing that cannot be postponed, I am sure." The smile was insincere; it was the closest Ami had ever come to outright glaring at Tenten.

The smirk refused to be suppressed, even as Tenten begged herself to not do this; to not sink to that level. But she remembered, all too well … a few weeks ago, Hinata had let slip that the pressure was on Ami to produce an heir; that was what was expected, the entire reason why she'd been forced on Neji in the first place. Tenten had pretended not to listen but as soon as she'd been alone with her thoughts … well, everything in her immediate surroundings had been bristling with kunai, like porcupines.

To her immense relief – and yet her displeasure – Neji appeared in the short hallway behind his wife. The moment his eyes lighted on Tenten he nodded once, briskly, and whirled on his heel. Before Ami had a chance to elaborate on her topic – for which Tenten was eternally grateful, she could see the spiteful gleam in the shorter girl's eyes – he had returned; his usual knapsack slung over his shoulder.

"Let's go," he said to Tenten.

But Tenten could not bear to witness even a perfunctory goodbye between them so she quickly shook her head.

"I still need to get my pack. I'll meet you at the gates."

Before he could protest she had disappeared in an almost silent swirl of leaves.

* * *

The days had taken on a disturbing regularity, a certain routine, since the end of the war. The mornings were as empty as his afternoons, but nothing could hold a candle to the nights. Granted, some days were better than others; usually the days Naruto managed to set aside for him. They would train and spar, and train and spar, until Sasuke was so bone-tired that the demons couldn't get a foot-and hand-hold for their claws that night. Sometimes he wondered if Naruto knew – if he sensed from afar – when Sasuke was close to breaking point, because whenever it had become just that tad too much to bear Naruto showed up and the darkness retreated for a few days.

Sasuke stared morosely at the bottom of his glass. Every day that wasn't spent with Naruto ended like this no matter how many promises to the contrary he made to himself. He'd realized quickly enough that the right amount of sake was exactly what he needed to balance the demons. So Sasuke had proceeded to find the most run-down bar in all of Konoha – filled with the outcasts of shinobi society, though none of them were quite as outcast as he was – and he spent most of his evenings there getting blind-drunk.

It allowed him to dream and that was really all he could hope for these days. But dreams came slowly to Sasuke, and ended far too quickly.

The bar allowed him his escape and the patrons ignored him as he ignored them. It was perfect. Except for the fact that Kakashi was currently seated next to him; also with a glass of sake in front of him. Sasuke scowled at his old teacher's reflection in the cracked and stained mirror that covered the wall behind the bar.

"How the mighty have fallen," Kakashi murmured as he reached for his glass, his uncovered eye roaming over the dark, smoky interior of the place.

The Uchiha didn't deign to reply. Not only because he hadn't asked for Kakashi's opinion but also because the man was entirely right. The irony wasn't lost on Sasuke, either.

Kakashi sighed, "What are you doing, Sasuke? Since you came back you've shunned everyone except for Naruto."

A sneer lifted his lips but Sasuke only shook his head as he knocked back the drink in front of him. The glass cracked as Sasuke slammed it down onto the bar but he ignored it and instead fixed swirling Sharingan eyes on Kakashi in the mirror. He was spoiling for a fight and Kakashi was asking for it. But the sake coursed warmly through his veins and Sasuke had to concentrate on speaking slowly, to prevent the words from slurring together.

"Give me a reason, _sensei_."

Kakashi's light, scornful chuckle only added fuel to the flames and Sasuke had to clench his fingers into tight fists to keep from reaching for his sword.

"Please, Sasuke. In the first place, you'll only fall over your own feet in your current condition and second, I taught you. Your basic style hasn't changed."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he turned, carefully, to look directly at Kakashi. Never before had the man addressed him with such contempt, but underlying the judgement was definite notes of disappointment.

"What's eating you?" Kakashi continued, taking a small sip of sake before he replaced his glass on the bar and fixed an unwavering stare on his student via the mirror. "I know you still spar with Naruto regularly, so it's not that. You're searching for absolution in all the wrong places," another distasteful look at their surroundings, "when you should be working on re-establishing the bonds you so rashly broke. Why are you freezing Sakura out?"

There it was; the dreaded name he'd hoped to avoid at all costs. Despite the alcohol, every muscle in his body had tensed up at the mention of Sakura's name and Sasuke knew that Kakashi would have picked up on that.

"What's it to you?" he asked rudely, hoping to deflect the Jounin.

"Well, Sasuke, you see, I had three members on my genin team, and I care about all of them. Why do you think I'm here tonight? Sakura fought just as hard as Naruto to bring you back. Don't you think you owe her something for that, at least?"

It took a long time for Sasuke to reply and when he finally did, something about the weary, jaded tone gave Kakashi pause, though he would have loved nothing more than to smack some sense into the drunk young man sitting next to him.

"I knocked her out and left her on a bench in the middle of the night. Then I repeatedly tried to kill her. Does that sound like someone you want around your precious Sakura-chan?" Sasuke spoke slowly, deliberately, and this time it wasn't just to keep his tongue from slurring the words.

Kakashi stayed silent as the Uchiha pushed away from the bar and stumbled out into the night, alone.

The streets were dark and glistened with the wetness of the rain that had fallen earlier but Sasuke ignored it all. He'd come back to this godforsaken village for Naruto – and for Itachi, because he somehow felt that he owed it to them. But it wasn't fair that he'd been forced to do this. Now his days were all the same empty stretch and his nights never ended except in the bottom of a bottle but what did they expect? Everywhere he went there were reminders … and even when he could get past the memories and the ghosts there was still Naruto.

Naruto – the golden hero of Konoha.

Naruto, the kind and forgiving friend that was much admired for his fair treatment of the monstrous Uchiha who didn't deserve to be treated with respect.

Naruto, the powerful Hokage-to-be; surpassing his father, the Yondaime.

Naruto, the outcast, misfit boy who finally caught the attention of the girl of his dreams.

_Naruto and Sakura._

How was it fair that they could expect him to be happy in this cursed place? Had they honestly expected him to smile as he watched Naruto living the life Sasuke should have had?

How pathetic was he? The last Uchiha sinking to being jealous of _Naruto_, of all people?

"Hey! Watch it!"

The voice was all sharp edges and Sasuke could feel his temper spiking; he'd been suppressing the urge for violence for far too long and if this random kunoichi offered him an outlet through her rudeness then who was he to decline?

"Watch where you're going yourself," he told her, coldly, common sense kicking in at the last moment so that Sasuke merely stepped around the obviously drunk young woman.

He'd barely gone two steps down the road when he froze at the sound of his name.

"Uchiha? Is that you?"

_No one _spoke to him voluntarily – except for Naruto and Kakashi and they didn't count.

Slowly he turned around, focusing his wavering vision on the girl intently. Twin buns confined chocolate brown hair, heart-shaped face was scrunched into frown lines as she peered blearily at him but he recognized her – vaguely.

"Tenten," he acknowledged finally, dragging her name from the depths of his cloudy memory.

Unexpectedly, she giggled.

"Boy, do you look smashed," she observed, hands rising to her hips as she surveyed him from head to toe.

Sasuke merely shot her a pointed look in return.

"Fair enough," she shrugged.

Another awkward moment passed before Sasuke decided that he'd had enough and he turned to go.

"Hey, Uchiha," Tenten called out after him.

"Next time you wanna get wasted, let me know! I hate drinking alone."

Not bothering to respond Sasuke continued on down the street; wondering why on earth such mundane words from someone he barely even knew would be able to calm the rage his conversation with Kakashi had ignited in his heart.

* * *

The news was everywhere.

People whispered about it delightedly in the streets. Every shop she entered there was someone who knew her and wanted to congratulate Neji via his teammate. Of course, it never occurred to anyone that Tenten wouldn't be happy for him. She was his teammate, after all, and it was a well-known fact that the Konoha Eleven were all close friends.

But Tenten was very close to breaking point.

It had been over a month since her last mission with the full Team Gai. In the aftermath; when she'd still been wallowing in the pain of having been that close to Neji, she'd finally decided that it couldn't go on this way. So she'd put her name on the list for ANBU and she'd taken as many solo missions as she could get, to bolster her resume.

She'd been getting better; or the closest to better that she'd been in a long time.

Now this. Just when she'd finally begun to think that she could put it all behind her; that she could move on with her life because Tenten wasn't a vindictive person at heart and she didn't like who she was becoming.

Neji and Ami were expecting their first child.

The announcement had been in the newspaper and everything.

Tenten grimaced as she slipped down a narrow alleyway to avoid Ino and Choji coming down the opposite end of the street. She continued rapidly down the road she emerged onto, uncaring that she was entering the seedier part of town. It was just past three in the afternoon but the moment Tenten's eyes caught sight of the sign she decided that it was late enough.

If there was ever an occasion where drowning her sorrows were required then this was it.

* * *

Sasuke slipped silently into the smoke and shadow-filled interior; the only haven he had in Konoha. No one seemed to care that he'd arrived; only the bartender reacted by reaching for the bottle of Sasuke's favourite drink and pouring a shot that he put in front of the Uchiha's usual seat.

The only thing that was out of place was the fact that for a second time in a month the seat next to Sasuke's was occupied.

The Uchiha frowned at the unknown girl's back but she paid the glare, and his entrance, no mind so he decided that it wouldn't matter if he took his usual seat. He wasn't planning on more than a couple of drinks, anyway.

_Yeah right._

The snort was barely suppressed as Sasuke slid into the chair and reached for the glass, but still the kunoichi didn't react and he decided to ignore her presence completely. She was bound to leave soon. He'd never seen kunoichi in here for longer than it took to finish the drink they'd unwisely ordered. He dismissed her from his thoughts and focused on all the rage burning endlessly in his heart; tried to quench it with copious amounts of alcohol.

By the third round Sasuke could no longer ignore the events that had driven him to seek solace in a bottle despite his training session with Naruto earlier that day.

Naruto was planning to propose to Sakura. He had the ring picked out and everything. And Sasuke hadn't known what to say or do because Naruto was his only friend and he knew that he should be happy for him but the envy had overwhelmed him.

Kakashi had always said that Sasuke had a simultaneous superiority and inferiority complex.

The Uchiha did snort into his drink this time, though the sound contained absolutely no amusement. It was strange how he'd missed Konoha so much at times – when he'd been on the road – that it had manifested in a physical ache; now that he was home, he hated every brick of the place.

Slowly Sasuke became aware of eyes lingering on his face and he automatically turned to scowl at the woman on his left but surprise blanketed the frown lines before he'd really begun.

Her hair was in loose waves down to her waist; his first irrational thought was that the different hairstyle was the reason he hadn't recognized her. The chocolate strands were mussed as if she'd repeatedly run her fingers through the shining length and her eyes were unfocused from the contents of the array of glasses lined up in front of her.

"Long time, Uchiha," she drawled, knocking back the sake as if it was water.

Sasuke inclined his head because he couldn't very well pretend he didn't know Tenten but he was damned if he was going to strike up a conversation with her.

She seemed to get the hint that he just wanted to be left alone and she returned to her thoughts and her drinks.

Perversely, Sasuke found he couldn't contain his curiosity. It had been a long time since anything different had happened on these binge sessions and he was becoming increasingly more desperate for a distraction. The more he drank the less he could control his thoughts and he was _done_ thinking about the romantic setup Naruto had planned for Sakura that night.

"What are you doing here," he demanded, finally.

"Free country, isn't it." Tenten arched an eyebrow at him, "I can drink wherever I damn well please and I was here first so if you don't like it – not my problem."

It had been an even longer time since anyone hadn't backed down when Sasuke was feeling confrontational and for a moment the Uchiha was at a complete loss for what to say or do. The silence stretched as he watched the kunoichi reaching for another glass, her hand so unsteady that she nearly spilled it five times before it reached her mouth.

"Thanks though," she finally broke the silence.

"For what," Sasuke asked, irritably, because this little altercation was not going his way at all and he hated it when everything didn't fall into the precisely delineated boxes that he'd designated them to.

"Since you've graciously allowed me to sit next to you, I haven't had to resist any advances."

Sasuke didn't know what to say; how to respond to that so he stayed quiet and signalled for another drink.

For the first time he didn't really want the drink he'd ordered.

* * *

Tenten was aware of the Uchiha's sidelong glances; she could almost hear the unspoken questions that kept running through his mind. After all, what was a kunoichi like her doing in a place like this? It wouldn't have been remarked upon if someone like Anko frequented this establishment. But Tenten wasn't that kind of girl.

She snorted in dark amusement.

No one knew what kind of girl she was – least of all herself. Apparently she was the kind of girl that would begrudge an unborn child its life; the kind of person that wished harm to befall innocent civilian women who hadn't had a choice in who they married; the kind of woman that would open her legs for someone she wasn't formally linked to in a romantic way …

It was really rather fitting that she'd ended up here; drinking next to the vilest betrayer she could find. Even if she had found him by accident.

Tenten could hold her drink, but even so she was beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol so she pushed her latest glass away from her with a squeamish grimace. With the ill-advised confidence one only gains when drunk, she turned to her unwilling companion.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, "I thought you didn't care for anything except power. The way I heard it, something like getting drunk is far beneath the great Uchiha Sasuke."

She was unprepared for the flash of rage that passed over his face; for the Sharingan that activated almost simultaneously before Sasuke, with visible effort, controlled himself and smoothed his features back to blankness, his eyes shadowed pools once again.

"Anyway, you shouldn't come here alone. It's not safe," Tenten lectured, wincing internally, but she hadn't known what else to say to diffuse the suddenly volatile atmosphere.

Sasuke smirked sideways, "The same could be said of you," he countered smoothly.

"I'm not burdened with an entire clan's fortune," she retorted, almost immediately regretting her words when a flash of barely-there sadness crossed her companion's face.

"I-I'm sorry," Tenten spoke softly into the silence, "that was uncalled for. To tell you the truth I'd like to blame it on the alcohol but lately I've realized that I'm really just a horrible person but even so … that comment was thoughtless and I apologize."

To her surprise Sasuke merely shrugged after another drawn out silence.

"I'm sure you're not a horrible person – and I am rich, it's just a fact."

The intent look he levelled at her took Tenten by surprise and she quickly fumbled to cover it.

"Still … let me buy the next round to make up for it."

* * *

Sasuke had never thought that he would stumble out of his haunting ground (as he'd begun to think of the rundown bar) with a decidedly drunk kunoichi clinging to his arm (because she couldn't seem to put one foot in front of the other for more than two consecutive steps). Somehow, he didn't mind. It hadn't been as bad as he'd thought, drinking with Tenten. After her apology round they'd somehow fallen into a sporadic-conversation-and-frequent-refill routine that had worked fairly well.

He was still caught off guard when she suddenly stumbled sideways and pulled him with her into a shadowed alley just off the main thoroughfare. He was even more surprised when she pushed him against the wall and pressed herself against him.

Her fingertips trailed over his eyes, down his cheeks to rest on his lips and he closed his eyes because he couldn't deny that the touch felt impossibly good.

"You're really perfect, aren't you," she whispered and the awareness of her gaze resting heavily on his features sparked along Sasuke's nerve-endings.

"Every line in perfect symmetry. Rich, gorgeous, smart, powerful … is there anything you don't have, Uchiha Sasuke?"

_Everything_.

The answer almost fell from his lips and Sasuke didn't know if it was to shut her up or to shut himself up, but he did the only thing he could think of to stop the conversation before he said things he'd regret.

He kissed her.

* * *

Tenten was almost surprised when Sasuke kissed her; but it had been so long since someone had touched her like this so she forgot about being practical for the time-being.

She didn't want to think about Neji, but since she had no one else to compare this to, it was inevitable and she allowed the thoughts to pass fleetingly through her brain without emotion.

Neji had touched her gently – almost as if he was afraid that the slightest touch would hurt her. Sasuke wasn't gentle – he touched her roughly, his mouth demanding as he slanted his lips over hers; his hands insistent as they swept down her sides to rest on her hips.

Neji had waited for encouragement before he'd let his true intentions be known but Sasuke demanded what he wanted – and then proceeded to take it anyway.

And abruptly Tenten was angry. Irrationally angry but angry nonetheless.

Neji had never touched her like this; filled with overwhelming passion barely leashed with restraint. Sasuke kissed her as if his life depended on it; as if he wanted to disappear into her … as if he could never have enough.

They drew apart for gasping breaths; staring at each other with somewhat shell-shocked gazes but as Sasuke's eyes raked her from the top of her dishevelled head down to her toes Tenten decided that she didn't care that they were drunk. She didn't even care that this was Uchiha Sasuke.

All she cared about was the flame he'd ignited deep inside of her, that was consuming her piece by piece. All she cared about was how incredible it felt when Sasuke touched her, when he kissed her.

So she decided to stop thinking all together.

* * *

_**a/n: how'd I do? Worth seeing where this story takes us?**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**a/n: Well, let's do this thing, yeah**_

_**Warnings: slight smexiness. Nothing too detailed.**_

_**Disclaimer: disclaimed.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 2**_

Tenten was late. And the one thing that Neji could not abide was a second more spent alone in the company of Gai and Lee. Though their relationship had soured after his marriage, they no longer shared commiserating eye-rolls at the antics of their teammates, Tenten's presence usually meant that there was at least one other person around to pretend an interest in their ridiculous antics.

Of late, Team Gai rarely trained together the way they had in their adolescence. Nevermind the fact that Ami would make his life more of a living hell than it already was if she found out that he was spending time alone with Tenten each day, Neji had thought it best to abandon the practice when it became clear that Tenten would never forgive him. These days they all trained together only when Gai and Lee insisted upon it. And Tenten usually made a point of being on time and ready to skewer him any way she could.

Neji frowned as he absentmindedly watched Gai and Lee race around the perimeter of the training field while walking on their hands. The one thing that Tenten prized above all else was her status as a kunoichi – she would never be late for anything relating to work. No matter how she felt about him. The guilt gnawed at him as his traitorous mind sweetly supplied that the reason Tenten had changed even this aspect of her work ethic was because of the newspaper announcement yesterday. Truthfully, Neji would have preferred that she hear the news from him, but he hadn't seen any way of making that happen.

Still, the guilt gnawed.

Deep down he knew he had done wrong by Tenten. But it had been a series of very unfortunate events that had led him down the path he was currently treading. Many times he'd tried to explain that he hadn't known. When … whatever the thing with Tenten had been, had begun he had had no idea the clan was negotiating his marriage contract. And a part of him that he hated to acknowledge had been glad when Ami had been foisted upon him because it had given him a very good reason to end things with Tenten before they got in any deeper. It was cowardly, and not a day went by that Neji didn't regret the decisions he'd made, but the fact was, back then he'd been scared.

Terrified.

Because the second his lips had met Tenten's he'd known that she was the one person who had the power to break him.

So he'd acquiesced to the clan's demands.

He'd let Tenten go.

And he hated himself for it every waking moment.

The sigh was barely suppressed, the frown lines deepened, as Neji allowed himself to sink deeper into his thoughts. Ami wasn't all bad, he supposed. She could be good company, when she wasn't screeching jealously about Tenten or the way his friends treated her; she was intelligent and beautiful. She was rational and logical, reserved and precise – qualities Neji could appreciate. And though her occasional rants only resulted in a headache for him, Neji knew not to take it personally. It had nothing to do with him – she wasn't jealous of _him_ – Ami was jealous that anyone would pick someone like Tenten over her. He rather suspected that the jealousy ran even deeper than surface wounding of pride – sometimes he thought that Ami envied Tenten her life; her strength and her freedom. All of that aside, Ami and Neji had managed to settle into a mostly harmonious existence. Until the business with children had started; that's when the real problems had begun.

For all her beauty, intelligence and emotional independence (things Neji counted himself lucky to have found in an arranged bride) she left him cold. The last few months had been hell; he'd lost count of the times he'd had to get drunk just to be able to go through with the act. He hated himself for imagining that it was Tenten in his arms when he finally did manage to force himself into Ami's bed.

And the worst part was that he had no one to share his misery with.

When Tenten had left him (because even though she was present she had cut herself out of his life as surely as if she'd left the village) he'd lost more than the promise of love; he'd lost his best friend.

For that, Neji hated himself most of all.

"Sensei, as punishment for having lost to you, I will run all the way to Tenten's apartment on my hands, fetch her and return in the same way!"

Lee's announcement broke through the melancholy thoughts and Neji winced at the thought of Lee running through town on his hands while everyone snickered behind their hands.

"No, I'll go," Neji broke in. The quickest way to get this training session over with was to fetch Tenten himself. His heart felt like it would burst out of his chest at any moment. The anticipation of seeing her, even if she was planning to try to kill him any way she could, upset his equilibrium. It was far better to get the whole thing over with in the shortest amount of time so that he could return to his real life; force himself to accept the realities all over again.

Before Lee or Gai could protest Neji was gone.

* * *

It was fairly awkward, waking up with someone after a one-night-stand, Tenten decided as she finally forced her eyes to open. Upon first waking she'd been totally disoriented; at a complete loss to explain the horrendous hangover, the delicious aches and pains that littered her body and the heavy arm curled possessively around her waist. Then memory had rushed back and Tenten had squeezed her eyes shut in mortification, hoping against hope that she was still dreaming.

But the part of her that wasn't socially conditioned to condemn her recent behaviour was purring like a contented cat. For the first time since Neji had married Ami, the heavy weight had lifted off her heart. For the first time she'd gone an entire night with no dreams or recriminations haunting her. The socially conditioned part of her could even feel hopeful that, despite the awkwardness, she'd finally begun to accept the state of affairs and move on.

It was just a pity that she'd had to get drunk and sleep with Uchiha Sasuke to accomplish it.

The thirst had finally begun to make itself known and Tenten shifted restlessly. Behind her Sasuke grunted in his sleep, the arm around her tightening and she froze. Despite the pounding headache she had no desire to be decapitated, but she couldn't see any way out of her current predicament without waking Sasuke. Slowly, carefully, she reached for his arm, lifting it over her body, hoping that Sasuke would simply turn over and go back to sleep; he must be just as hung-over as she was. The task was accomplished without bloodshed and Tenten breathed a sigh of relief as she quickly swung her legs over the side of the bed. She grabbed the first article of clothing she saw – and old shirt she often slept in – and turned cautiously to look at the man sleeping in her bed.

It was strange to see Sasuke sleeping surrounded by her white pillows and covered with her wine-red sheets. No man had ever slept in her bed before; not even Neji. For a moment the sheer ridiculousness of the situation nearly made Tenten laugh. She whirled quickly on her heel, wincing slightly at the soreness between her legs, and headed for the bathroom. She had no idea what to make of this; no idea why Sasuke would have allowed her so close. He didn't seem the type to go in for casual encounters. The bathroom door clicked softly as she closed it behind her and Tenten shook her head to dislodge the crazy thoughts.

They'd been drunk, both slightly desperate, though she couldn't fathom what could have driven Uchiha Sasuke to such lengths, and one thing had simply led to another. It was no good trying to read into it, because there was nothing there to read into. And she really couldn't deny that, whatever Sasuke's motivations, she had gotten what she wanted. The real source of her shame was the fact that she'd thrown herself at him; that she'd been desperate to feel that there was someone who would want her, even if Neji didn't.

The water was running cold but Tenten barely noticed as she laid her suddenly hot forehead against the cold tiles of the shower wall. Much as she hated to admit it, the shame was equalled by gratification; she liked the dark edges to Sasuke; she liked how he'd taken her hard and fast. The darkness inside him didn't frighten her because she'd had to come to terms with her own darkness; it excited her, made her feel alive.

She didn't even want to begin to contemplate what kind of a person that made her.

* * *

Neji had never placed much store in superstitious beliefs but some sixth sense warned him that he didn't want to be seen, and he quickly ducked behind the trunk of a large tree. The Byakugan activated almost on instinct and he quickly swept his gaze up and down the street where Tenten lived. Providentially, as it turned out, the sixth sense had been accurate. The door to Tenten's apartment building was just swinging shut.

Neji couldn't see the man's face because it was buried in the fabric of a shirt the man was pulling over his head. Of course, if he could have kept the Byakugan activated, he wouldn't have needed to see the man's face to know who it was, but a coldness had settled in his gut and his bloodline limit had shut down on its own before he'd had time to ascertain the chakra type. The man turned, presenting Neji with a clear view of his back for a second, before the shirt fell into place.

There were eight long scratches running down the man's back. And now that the spiky, dark hair had been revealed, Neji easily recognized Uchiha Sasuke.

Who was leaving Tenten's apartment building in what was clearly a walk of shame.

Neji wasn't stupid, despite his propensity for bad decisions. Tenten was the only kunoichi of their age group living in that building. Civilians were much too afraid of the Uchiha monster to let him near them, no matter how good-looking, and most shinobi still distrusted the Uchiha despite his rehabilitation and Naruto's vote of confidence. In fact, the only people who could really look at the Uchiha without wincing were the rest of the Konoha Eleven.

So, logic clearly dictated that the Uchiha could only have spent the night with Tenten.

It would explain her tardiness, and it certainly was in character if he took her flirtatious ways into account. He'd always thought that she was simply playing with him, that she didn't really hook up with the guys she chatted up whenever the group met, but clearly he'd been mistaken.

The jealousy hit him like a punch to the gut and Neji had to force himself to breathe evenly, to not gasp the way his suddenly empty lungs wanted him to.

For the first time in his life, Neji didn't stop to think each action through thoroughly; he simply waited until the Uchiha had disappeared around the corner before he strode purposefully towards the building. He had to confirm his suspicions, and he wasn't about to let Tenten get away with fucking Uchiha _Sasuke_ after all the grief she had given him over a marriage he'd had no choice in.

* * *

_It was typical_, Tenten thought cynically when she emerged from the bathroom to find Sasuke gone. She didn't know what she had expected of the Uchiha, and a part of her was glad that she didn't have to face him after all, but another part of her was just pissed off that he couldn't have at least waited for her to open the door for him. Footsteps sounded in the hallway outside her front door and she simply reacted. She didn't care that she was still half-dressed; what did it matter when Sasuke had already seen it all anyway? Tenten yanked the front door open with a slight snarl.

"What? You don't get to sneak out and in like you own the place, Uchiha!"

Pearlescent eyes met hazel in accusation and Tenten crossed her arms defensively over her chest. She was suddenly inordinately aware of the amount of skin revealed by the plain white sports-bra; of the finger-shaped bruises that littered her hips and her waist, and the large purplish bite mark that adorned the top of one breast.

"Oh, it's you," she squeaked, hating the way her voice rose higher and the way shame welled up inside her as Neji's eyes roamed her body, lingering on the evidence of the night before.

"So it's true," he said tonelessly, after a long silence spent staring at each other.

And Tenten hated that all she really wanted to do was throw her arms around him, apologize profusely, and vow to make it all better again.

Instead she hardened her heart.

"I don't know what you mean," she placed a hand on the doorknob, "what can I do for you, Neji?"

He shook his head, something like sadness flitting across his face, before he carefully schooled his expression into blankness.

"You're late for training."

_Shit._

Tenten closed her eyes; she'd completely forgotten about the session that had been scheduled for that day. To top it off, she was hung-over, sore and achy, and decidedly _not _in the mood to deal with Neji's judgement all day.

"Oh, I forgot. Um … I won't be able to make it today," Tenten muttered, carefully avoiding those all-seeing eyes. "I have kind of a last minute … thing … _mission_, that came up."

Neji sighed wearily and her eyes flew to his face to try and gauge what he was thinking.

"Don't lie to me, Tenten. You've never been very good at it. If you'd rather spend your day off with your new boyfriend, far be it from us to stand in the way."

Despite the words there was a snideness to Neji's tone that made her heart jump. Smugly Tenten couldn't help feeling vindicated – like she was finally getting to settle the score. It lasted for a mere second before she looked away.

This wasn't who she wanted to be.

She was tired of the back-and-forth game-playing with Neji; tired of trying to get back at him for something that belonged in the past. But the words fell from her lips as if they hadn't passed through her brain, and Tenten could only wonder, half-hysterically, what it was about Hyuuga Neji that brought out the absolute _worst_ in her.

"I would have thought that you'd be the one wanting to spend the day with your … _family._ I hear congratulations are in order."

Neji's near imperceptible wince was a pyrrhic victory.

The silence fell awkwardly, like a thick blanket in the middle of the summer, and Tenten didn't know where to look. Never before had they addressed the issues between them so clearly; not since the first time Neji had tried to talk to her and she'd cut him off, not wanting to hear empty explanations.

"I'm not doing this, Tenten," he said finally, running a tired hand down his face, "don't try to guilt-trip me. I would have told you myself, but I didn't think you'd listen."

He was right and shame welled up inside her again, but, as always when confronted with Neji, Tenten couldn't seem to stop the poison from leaking into her words.

"Well, excuse me for not wanting to hear every detail of your sordid love-life."

The moment the words left her mouth, and Neji's eyes darkened to almost pure silver-grey, Tenten knew she'd finally gone too far.

Before she could say another word – try to apologize maybe? – Neji laid one hand flat on the door and pushed his way inside. Frustration mounted within her when she was utterly unable to maintain her grip on the doorknob, as his superior strength overwhelmed hers, and Tenten did the only thing she could. She backed up a few paces and allowed him to close the door behind him. His gaze was lancing, filled with pure rage, and Tenten wanted to run from the intensity in his eyes, even while excitement shivered down her spine.

Wildly she wondered if the Uchiha had broken her in some way. There was no reason for her to actually _enjoy_ being on the receiving end of Neji's rage, after all.

"Fine. Have it your way. Let's talk, Tenten. Get it all out of your system. Because I am getting fucking sick and tired of being the bad guy."

The silky smooth tone of voice should have alerted her that this would be a good time to wave a white flag, but Tenten had spent most of her life going up against Hyuuga Neji and she wasn't about to back down from his challenge now.

"Who do you think you are, Hyuuga?" she snarled, "Get over yourself. I have."

"Clearly," Neji sneered, sweeping a pointed gaze across the bruises that marred her skin, "though this is your, what, tenth attempt in the last year?"

Tenten saw red. The dam broke, and all the rage and pain she'd been carrying around with her came pouring out. Distantly she was watching herself, begging herself to stop this before the humiliation could be complete, but she was utterly unable to prevent the words from tripping off her tongue.

"At least all my _attempts_ knew exactly where we stood."

"How many times do I have to say it? _I didn't know they were planning a wedding for me. _You were there too, Tenten! Don't act like I was forcing you to do something you didn't want!"

"So now I'm the one at fault. Now you were just obliging me?!" Tenten crossed her arms, trying to still the trembling of her frame.

"I didn't say that," Neji forced the words through gritted teeth, "don't put words into my mouth. I'm simply saying that it takes two. You don't get to act the injured innocent."

"You can't either, Neji! Because from where I'm standing it looks a lot like you just wanted to have your cake and eat it too!"

Neji stared at her in incredulous silence for a minute, "You think I _wanted _Ami? Is that it? Well, let me put your mind at rest. I _never_ wanted her. I'm trying to do my best with the hand I've been dealt, that's all."

The sarcasm fairly dripped off of the words and the anger had created a slight tinge of red high across Neji's cheeks. Inconsequentially, all Tenten could focus on was how beautiful he looked. This was always the way she'd preferred Neji: when he was being open and honest, allowing all the pent up passion to emerge. She'd always hated his Hyuuga façade and loved knowing that she was one of the very few people who ever got to see the real Neji.

Suddenly it was all just too much. Because the fact of the matter was, long before he'd become her lover, Neji had been her friend. She could finally acknowledge that maybe the thing that hurt the worst was the betrayal of that bond of trust and friendship.

And, goddamnit, she missed him.

Tears filmed her vision and Tenten blinked rapidly to try and stem the flow. Because she'd be damned if she'd let him see how much he could hurt her.

"I rather think your impending parenthood speaks for itself," she muttered snidely, hoping that Neji wouldn't pick up on the sudden shift in her mood.

"You …" Neji took a deep breath, closed his eyes briefly, "you have no idea. Despite our differences, I always thought you knew me better than that, Tenten. This isn't easy for me, either."

The mood had shifted onto dangerously emotional ground and Tenten frantically lashed out; tried to reach for the anger.

"Next you'll be telling me you had to get drunk to get your wife pregnant," Tenten injected as much sarcasm into the words as she was capable of, only to be struck completely speechless when Neji winced, a flash of pain crossing his features, before he looked studiously away.

"Oh … um … wow … I … sorry," Tenten whispered into the silence because even if Neji brought out the worst in her, she'd never had a propensity for cruelty, "that bad, huh," she finally finished lamely.

"That bad," Neji muttered grimly after a while.

The silence stretched and then Neji ran a weary hand through his hair, opened his mouth only to close it, before he took a deep breath and tried again.

"I know I hurt you, Tenten. But please believe that it wasn't intentional. I know that things can never be as they were, but I'd really like to stop playing these games. I've had to come to terms with the fact that my life went down a different path than I wanted it to. And with a child …"

His eyes were suddenly locked onto hers, filled with pleading, and Tenten found that she couldn't look away.

"I don't love Ami, Ten. I never will. But I don't want to live in a state of constant battle so I do my best to make it work. I'm tired of pretending that I don't care about you and I'm tired of rubbing my indifference in your face. When I saw Sasuke leaving … I didn't like it. So … you win."

Tenten stood frozen until she could no longer hear Neji's footsteps retreating down the hallway before she finally allowed the tears to run down her cheeks and she whispered sadly into the silence.

"Goodbye, Neji."

* * *

Ami ducked behind the tree-trunk and peeked cautiously around its circumference to watch as her husband exited the apartment building. She'd gone to the training grounds to deliver the breakfast he'd left without eating that morning but she'd found only Gai and Lee. Of all the people in Neji's life they were the only ones that ever treated her fairly, but she wasn't sure how much that meant when they'd guilelessly informed her that Neji had gone to fetch Tenten who had been running late that morning.

The anger had simmered restlessly as she'd begun to make her way back to the Hyuuga compound and finally she'd turned on her heel, stalking towards the … _woman's _… apartment building with a mounting sense of outrage. Here she was, sacrificing her youth and her waistline for a man who pretended she was someone else when he came to her bed emanating sake fumes. Here she was doing her utmost to make it work, to turn them into a real family, and Neji had taken up with that … _woman_ … the second she'd announced she was pregnant. If she'd needed any confirmation that Neji would never wholeheartedly devote himself to their marriage, no matter what he promised, this was it. Clearly he thought he'd done his duty and could now go about living his life the way he wanted.

Well, she wasn't about to sit back and let Tenten steal him away after all the months of hard work. She was a Hyuuga too, even if she wasn't a trained ninja, and she could fight dirty with the best of them. If she had to sneak and spy so that she could find out what exactly about that damned … _woman_ … attracted Neji so much, then she would.

She watched, holding her breath, until Neji had rounded the corner before she exhaled in a rush. Maybe she had been going about it the wrong way. Maybe instead of trying to highlight the differences between her and Tenten she should be emulating the other woman; hook Neji that way and then gradually wean him off until she could be herself and he realized that he actually liked that more than Tenten's unseemly ways.

The morning wasn't going at all as she had planned. She hadn't needed her mother's visit just after dawn, to remind her of all that was at stake. She hadn't needed to hear that if she couldn't make it work with Neji … if he went to his uncle and asked for a divorce … her family would be ruined. Her father's death the previous year had left them with nothing but a legacy of bad debts hidden by a good name. The only thing that was keeping her mother and younger sisters afloat was the stipend they received along with the preferential treatment of being related to the clan head; even if only by marriage.

Ami squared her shoulders. Distasteful as it might be, she _had _to do something because she'd come to know Neji quite well and she knew that the last few months had changed him. She knew he wasn't sexually attracted to her and she knew that it was simple duty that had forced him to try. But that wasn't good enough because for all his devotion to his family Neji was still just a man. And if Tenten played her cards right, she would reel him back in and he would choose her, and Ami, and her family, would be left out in the cold.

With another deep breath, she shook her dark hair back from her face and forced herself to march up the steps to the apartment building with more confidence than she felt.

* * *

Tenten groaned aloud when the knock sounded at her door. This was just ridiculous. She rarely had visitors and now she was forced to deal with three uninvited ones in one day? A lascivious little voice whispered in the back of her mind that Sasuke hadn't been uninvited and he was more than welcome to come again, but Tenten forced it away and plastered a smile onto her face as she pulled the door open. Distantly she hoped that the tear-tracks weren't too visible; she'd still been splashing cold water on her face when the knock had sounded.

The moment the door opened fully to reveal Hyuuga Ami Tenten regretted that she had forgotten to pull a shirt on; she regretted that her hair was hanging in a loose mess of waves down her back; she regretted opening the door at all. Compared with the Hyuuga's perfectly composed appearance Tenten felt about twelve years old; messy and unsophisticated.

Then Ami's eyes landed on the hickey, and the bruises, and Tenten couldn't help the astonishment that flitted across her features briefly, because, unless she was very much mistaken, the Hyuuga Ice Queen had looked at her with envy.

"I'll get straight to the point, Tenten," Ami said haughtily, before the other woman had a chance to speak.

"Please do, Ami," Tenten returned sweetly, smiling inwardly at the pointed lack of polite formality from the Hyuuga.

"I'll thank you to keep your hands to yourself where my husband is concerned," Ami's eyes lingered distastefully on the bruises, "as you are no doubt aware, we are expecting –"

"You think Neji did this?" Tenten interrupted incredulously, one hand hovering over the bite mark. "Then I don't see how you got pregnant because if you'd ever been with Neji you'd know that hard and fast is hardly his style."

The Hyuuga woman blushed and averted her gaze and Tenten found that she, perversely, enjoyed baiting the other woman like this. She may have buried the hatchet with Neji but that didn't mean that she would ever like his wife.

"How a man treats his wife and how he treats his mistress can be two very different things," Ami returned stiffly.

Tenten laughed, "God, you're really serious. Look, Ami, I'm going to tell you this only once. I respect myself far too much to ever be anyone's _mistress_ so you can rest assured that your husband is safe from my predatory ways."

Ami's eyes flashed at Tenten's tone of mockery but she persevered nonetheless.

"I just saw him leaving your building. Forgive me for drawing the obvious conclusion."

"You're spying on him now?" Tenten sighed wearily, "Look, it really isn't like that with Neji, okay? You can relax. And if you don't mind a suggestion – trust will go a long way to solving the problems you two seem to be having."

Ami fairly bristled with indignation and Tenten reached up to massage her temple. The hangover headache had just gotten a lot worse.

"I can't make you believe me, but it's the truth," Tenten didn't know where the sudden gentleness in her tone had come from but Ami reared back in surprise.

"I don't know what game you're playing, Tenten. And I really can't fathom what my husband sees in you, but I will not go down without a fight, that much I can promise you."

For a long moment Tenten stared at the other woman, not really sure what she should say or do because she only seemed to make things worse when she opened her mouth. At long last Tenten shrugged.

"Do what you want. I'm not playing a game and I'm definitely not getting drawn into a catfight with you."

The other woman turned to go, but she'd barely gone a step before she turned back to face Tenten.

"You know what really gets to me? The fact that you can stand there and lie to my face without flinching. You really are shameless, aren't you."

Temper was finally beginning to make itself known and Tenten gritted her teeth; reminded herself that she couldn't slice pregnant civilians to ribbons because of something they said. The words hovered on the tip of her tongue; how she longed to lash out, to use her newfound knowledge of the intimate details of their marriage against the other woman. The taunts echoed through her mind. Tenten bit her lip, hard enough to draw blood and quickly shut the door in Ami's face.

* * *

Tenten's back connected with the back of the door hard enough to draw an involuntary gasp from her lungs. She didn't get a chance to catch her breath because Sasuke's mouth was on hers. His lips slanted hungrily over hers, his tongue slicking into her mouth to tangle sinuously with hers. A low moan rose in her throat. At the back of her mind she was aware that this was a very bad idea; that once had been bad enough and that this was decidedly not healthy. But Sasuke's hands were warm and _everywhere_. And he didn't mind her nails raking down his spine, or the way she bit into his shoulder when his tongue traced intricate whorls down her neck. He just growled into the curve of her throat and pressed her harder against the door.

She didn't know why she had gone back to the bar. She had even less of an idea how she'd wound up in Sasuke's apartment with her legs wrapped around his hips, his hands tracing deliciously over her stomach and his tongue on her skin. Again. All she really knew was that after Ami had left and the hangover had shown no signs of abating, it had increasingly seemed like a good idea to get drunk and forget all about the horrific start to her day.

The anger surged beneath her skin, momentarily drowning out the pleasure Sasuke was inflicting, and Tenten hated how much effort it took to force it to the back of her mind. Even then it refused to really recede.

So Tenten did the only thing that made any sense: she channelled all the rage and all the pain into Sasuke and the inexplicable need that surged between them.

* * *

_**a/n: So … hit me. How'd I do?**_


End file.
